The Arc is pleased to announce that the majority of the bills on our legislative platform for 2021-2022 have been passed favorably from their respective committees as of Joint Rule 10, which is the deadline for committee members to vote on legislation or give bills an extension.
The Arc has many bills that can now take the next steps to move forward to becoming law.
- All of our healthcare priorities have passed favorably including Hospital Training, Operation House Call, and Tommy’s bill.
- Bills that expand access or eligibility also passed favorably including MassHealth ABA for Adults, PCA Cueing and Supervision, Accessory Dwelling Units for people with disabilities, and the Developmental Disabilities definition bill.
- The Arc is excited that the Police Training Expansion bill passed favorably with continued support from the Municipal Police Training Committee.
- And importantly, two workforce bills – Loan Repayment and Fair Pay – have moved forward.
As of February 2, there were a few bills that received an extension to address language changes or to dive deeper into a concern raised during the committee review. These bills include:
- Supported Decision Making
- the Disability Commission
- Higher Education Opportunities
- and the Disabled Persons Protection Commission Language bill.
The Arc is working with the sponsors of these bills and the committee chairs and coalitions to ensure resolution.
The Arc is grateful for the enormous work that has been done with our legislative sponsors, committee chairs, advocacy partners, and our community advocates. The bills were each well supported at the hearings held between summer 2021 and this January. These bills are now “out of the gate” but we have much more work to do to move them across the finish line.
Stay tuned for more information and advocacy needed, which will be announced in Notes from The Arc. To learn more about each of these bills you can visit www.arcmass.org/advocacy/bills or contact Maura Sullivan at sullivan@arcmass.org.
